The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has descended on Sin City for the first playoff race of the 2018 season. The South Point 400 contest at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is not only the first in a run of 10 races for the elimination-style playoffs to crown NASCAR’s newest champion, but it also commemorates the first time that the Cup Series will race at the track twice in one year. Kevin Harvick drove away as the race winner when the series visited the 1.5-mile oval in March, but who will be able to find the same spark in the hot temperatures during September?

Kyle Busch returns to his hometown of Las Vegas with an impressive six wins and the title of 2018 regular season champion. Thanks to two more top-fives and one fewer DNF during the regular season, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver edged out Stewart-Haas veteran Kevin Harvick, who enters the playoffs with seven wins. Both drivers, along with Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski, have shown no signs of letting up as NASCAR runs its first playoff race in Las Vegas. Will one of these three drivers be good enough to claim the checkered flag at the end of the South Point 400?

Kyle Busch, who has won one race at LVMS, and Harvick, who has two wins at the oval, lead the Cup Series in playoff points. Keselowski, a two-time Cup winner at the venue, is entering the playoffs with back-to-back race wins and is peaking at the right time. Truex Jr. also has a Las Vegas win to his name.

“Going to Vegas, it’s not one of my best racetracks, for some reason,’’ Busch said. “I’ve won there before, but it was a long time ago. We finished second earlier this year…Thankfully, with our season and our success that we’ve had with the 18 team, we’ve got that point cushion.”